Political economy of Russia’s response to COVID-19 pandemic

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In objective terms, Russia was relatively well prepared for the COVID-19 crisis – with its large sovereign wealth fund, relative isolation due to sanctions, low share of tourism and hospitality in GDP, and the ready-to-go vaccine against MERS that was relatively easy to convert to a vaccine against COVID. Yes, as of today, Russia is the most affected country in the world in absolute terms with its excess mortality exceeding the one of the US and approaching 1 million and is a top three countries in the world in terms of excess mortality per capita. What went wrong? How is COVID policy response related to political and economic realities of today’s Russia? Will Russian policy change after the September 2021 parliamentary elections? What are the mid-term and long-term prospects of Russian economy?

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Sergei Guriev is Professor of Economics, Sciences Po, Paris. He joined Sciences Po as a tenured professor of economics in 2013, after running the New Economic School in Moscow in 2004-2013. In 2016-19, he was on leave from Sciences Po serving as the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Dr. Guriev’s research interests include political economics, development economics, labor mobility, and contract theory. Dr. Guriev has published in international refereed journals including American Economic Review, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of European Economic Association, Economic Journal, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Economic Literature, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Policy and American Political Science Review. He has been a board member of Sberbank, E.ON Russia, Alfa-Strakhovanie Insurance Company, Russia Venture Company, Russian Home Mortgage Lending Agency, Russian Agricultural Bank, and the Dynasty Foundation. In 2006, he was selected a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2009-11, he was included in the top 100 of the President of Russia’s Cadre Reserve. In 2016-17 he has served as the President of the Society for Institutional and Organizational Economics. Since 2017, he has been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Economic Association. He is also a Research Fellow and the Leader of the Research and Policy Network on Populism at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, London. He is a Global Member of the Trilateral Commission and an Ordinary Member of the Academia Europaea.

• Sergei Guriev’s website
• For non research articles, see for instance Project Syndicate
• An article on the topic of the session: English version and French version